Have you ever missed that canteen spaghetti when you were little? As a kid, I grew up to loving that Filipino-style spaghetti from the big house-turned-hangout-snack-place across our school. I have loved it back then and I’m still loving it now. They may not be the best spaghetti in the world and there may have been a couple of pasta dishes I’ve tried that are definitely tastier and more delicious but I will always enjoy a plate of that “canteen-like spaghetti”. I’ve never forgotten that taste. It’s like a part of Philippine tradition.

And the reason why I’m sharing that with you is because I was able to accidentally recreate it last weekend! Here it is…

Now, I know what you will say especially if you have been reading my blog for quite some time. I have pledged to be a vegetarian so what’s with the Spaghetti? Okay, let me tell you my current situation as a vegetarian…

Our Filipino friends here in Texas are just soooo nice. Every week, they bring me lots of food. They are “Kapampangan’s” – what we call the people from the province of Pampanga – thus, they are really good cooks. Remember I posted before that I ate some Fajitas because it was our first time to eat dinner at their place and no vegetable was served? Well, I didn’t tell them I no longer eat meat because I don’t want them to adjust for me (and out of hiya, I’m not kapal anyway). So I ate the Fajitas they’ve prepared. Apparently, every weekend after that, they always tell us to eat at their home. And if we didn’t, they will send me food! They send me ribs, fajitas, chicken barbeque, stir fry noodles, and they even made sisig (the authentic Aling Lucing’s Sisig)! They also made “Sinigang na Tadyang” – a sour soup made of the bony beef pieces with “gabi”. They were so good! So since then, I told myself that I’ll just limit my meats to every weekend – when we’re with them. During the weekday, only Hubby can eat meat and I’ll stick to my tofu and veggies. That way, I still lessen my meat intake. After all, I can’t say no to such really nice people. We’re really grateful that we have a wonderful life here in Texas!

They’ll take us to Costco for groceries. They even buy the ladies our own ladies drink (like Mojito or Smirnoff Ice) when its drinking session (which is like every week). They’ve invited us to all their parties/celebrations. They’ve hooked us up with a lot of connections (accountant, immigration, air travels, Fedex, etc). And what’s more is that when they learned I was slightly anemic, they are going to cook the delicious stir fry ampalaya (bitter gourd) with the eggs. I know a lot of people don’t like eating bitter gourd but ever since I was a kid, it was one of the dishes that my mom would cook. At first, I didn’t like it but I’ve somehow inherited her taste and loved eating that dish since then. So going back, when they learned that I’ve been missing the pork liempo – the one from the grill restaurants in the Philippines – they made sure it will be part of our next weekend’s dinner. And being a Filipino, a way to say thank you is to also do something for them in return, what we call “utang na loob”. So I also bring some foods from time to time. First, I made a three layer dip/salsa and bought some Tostitos for our appetizers when they cooked Fajitas. Then I brought some Leche Flan dessert. On Hubby’s birthday, I brought some finger foods like salami, pepperoni, and different types of cheeses and of course beer. And last weekend, it was my Mom’s specialty spaghetti that I have been able to master. That’s when I discovered the Filipino canteen-style spaghetti.

Nope, it’s not the canteen-style spaghetti that I served them of course. Hubby loves my mom’s spaghetti recipe too. And so I cooked two packs of noodles and made sure that the sauce was enough for two packs. But, as I poured the sauce for the first batch to be given to our friends, the remaining sauce wasn’t enough for the second batch of noodles. So what I did was, I added ingredients to the sauce. But last weekend, I ran out of the tomato sauce/tomato ketchup. The recipe calls for even amounts of tomato sauce or tomato ketchup, water, and Jufran’s banana ketchup. Of course there are other ingredients. But since I ran out of tomato sauce, I had to add more of the banana ketchup and water instead. After cooking the sauce for the second batch and mixing in the noodles, I tasted it. I was surprised. I was instantly reminded of our canteen style spaghetti! Delicious! So I took a picture and thought I’d share with you some of the Philippine foods that I consider part of Philippine tradition.

And to conclude this very long post, here are photos of some of the Philippine foods that I’ve managed to whip up in the kitchen for the past few months… Spicy Beef Caldereta, Spring Rolls, Macaroni, Fried Tofu, Chicken Siopao, Fried Tilapia, Lechon Kawali, Stir-Fry Bokchoy, Pork Sinigang, Sardines Fried Rice with lotsa tomatoes… I also managed to make our own squash seeds (kinda like our butong pakwan), and our week won’t be complete without Mangoes with Shrimp Paste (mangga at bagoong)!

xoxo

Tags: philippine foods, philippine tradition | Category Fashion Juice Anything